Class 2016: Live by the Sword
by Nathan You
Summary: The following is a story set in the First (and hopefully not last) season of Class 2016 just before the big fallout from the events of episode 6. It centres around the character of Ram Singh (and to a lesser extent Miss Quill) and explores his experiences after coming into contact with a mysterious alien sword. Needless to say I own nothing and I hope you enjoy.
1. Crustacean Chase

Ram and Tanya ran for their lives through the corridors of Coal Hill Academy.

"What the hell are those things?"

Yelled Ram between breaths, trying not to lose any ground.

"How should I know, they look like Cthulhu had kids with a lobster"

Oddly enough Tanya's description was fairly accurate, their latest visitors from the tears in space and time, bore a strange collection of both crustacean and cephalopod features. Their faces composed of a large mass of tentacles and their forelimbs ended in vicious looking pincers leaving them another two pairs of hind legs to run on, an adaptation that unfortunately offered them a great deal of speed and was allowing them to quickly gain on the two students.

Ram and Tanya struggled to maintain the distance between themselves and the pincers and tendrils of their two pursuers. But with no one else in the school at night, help seemed unlikely and thus escape unlikely too. Ram remembered the last time he had been in the darkened corridors of nighttime Coal hill, facing down a giant dragon. Following that he'd faced down Shadowkin and Alien ghosts and god knows what else, this point monsters and aliens had almost become banal and normal. That said he couldn't deny the terror of this current moment, and that terror, combined with the reduced dexterity of his new Lothan leg that caused him to briefly stumble and further shrink their distance from the creatures.

Tanya realising their rapidly decreasing lead helped Ram pick himself up and directed the two of them to make for the door to a nearby classroom. They closed it behind them and braced themselves behind it in bid to barricade themselves against their pursuers. Hoping that even if they couldn't escape their pursuers maybe they could at least hold out long enough for someone to reach them. The door shook and almost buckled at the force of the repeated impacts of the creatures slamming against it but the strength of the two seemed to be holding them at bay, at least for now. Tanya pulled out her phone frantically searching her contacts for someone to call.

"Ram!"

She yelled out in horror, dropping her phone in the process, as one of the creature's chitinous claws broke a hole through the door. Ram kicked at the appendage in a desperate bid to keep it back. It's armoured shell buckled at the impact of the metal of his metal leg this time his alien prosthetic working in his favour. After suffering such attacks the creatures claw retreated back through the crack it had created.

Suddenly a series of terrifying and alien shrieks came from the other side of the door and within moments the impacts seemed to cease as well as the sound of the screaming. Ram and Tanya stood in silence still braced against the door, not sure at what had happened. Ram nodded towards the door indicating a plan to check what was going on out behind it. Tanya nodded in agreement and slowly opened the door. On the other side they discovered what was left of the creatures their bodies dismembered and brutalised, one with multiple stab wounds and severed limbs and the other with its head cleanly sliced off. Despite the strength of their carapaces the bodies of the pair of creatures seemed to have been cut through without resistance like a knife through butter. Ram dipped his finger in the blackish blue blood seeping from their wounds, it's texture was viscous sticking to his finger as he pulled it away.

"eugh"

Lying against the wall unconscious, was a figure wearing something between a spacesuit and knight's armour holding a large red sword. It was comprised of a series of pieces of plate armour with wires and other types of tubing connecting them together. The sword was very long and straight, extending approximately one and a half meters and coloured a bizarre metallic red, as if having been coated in blood but still somehow retaining it's shine. His face was angular and still barring a surprising youthfulness despite his white short cropped hair and goatee. Although he appeared to bare no physical signs of injury he seemed somehow exhausted and drained.

The two noticed him for the first time

"who's the hipster from space?"

Ram asked trying to wipe what remained of the sticky fluid from his fingertip.

"I would've gone with cosmic LARPer but guessing from the sword I'm gonna say he's the one who fought off the space crabs"

With this he began to stir, his eyes flickered open and he started moaning.

"yyyooouuu"

"you alright mate?"

Said Ram kneeling down to meet the man's eye level

"take this. Keep it saaafe."

The man reached for his sword, trying to pass it to Ram

"no you're hurt, don't try to move"

Tanya added.

"find the scabbard. Make it sssaaafe"

The man continued whilst trying to pass, almost force the sword into Ram's hands. And as pouring the last of his strength into that final act, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed again, this time dead.


	2. Interventions and Investigations

The next day they meet up with the rest of the group out the front of the school. Ram showed them the pictures he had taken the night before. Charlie looked at a picture of the dismembered crustaceans. Despite the high quality of the phone's camera the image was somewhat blurred, muddled by Ram's hands having still been shaking at the time due to residual terror.

"I don't recognise the species. If you send me the pictures I can ask Quill."

"sure"

Replied Ram flicking to the next image, one of the stranger who had saved them. April looked a little perturbed

"Did you take a photo of a dead body? That's a little morbid Ram"

"What did you want me to do, wait until the governors or whoever does it, had time to cover it up?'

"I guess so. Who is this guy anyway?"

"He was the guy who saved us from the Aliens"

Tanya chimed in.

"Hence the sword. What's he wearing? It looks like something off Eurovision"

"What's Eurovision?"

Asked Charlie, confused by Aprils last statement.

"It is not important"

Said Matteusz

"Yeah we really need to settle on a pop culture reference for this guy"

Said Tanya

"What did you do with the sword anyway?"

"It's still in the back of my car. The guy wanted me to keep it but I don't like it. It makes me feel weird"

"If you give it to me at the end of the day I could have Quill look at it as well."

Said Charlie and Ram nodded in agreement. He then moved over to April

"Can I talk to you for a minute"

"sure"

Replied April sounding slightly confused and concerned.

The two of them then separated from the group retreating to a more private bench within the school grounds proper.

"So what's wrong?"

April asked.

"You were right"

April gave him a quizzical look, so Ram elaborated.

"You were right, taking pictures of the body like that was morbid. I think there's something wrong with me."

"Ram that's not true. The things you've been through, that we've all been through, it's only natural that they'd push you to extremes."

"It's not that it's just… ok, when Rachel died it broke me. Nothing made sense, all I felt was angry and afraid. It was the worst time of my life. And I would have given anything to stop feeling that way. But when I saw that man die I… I didn't feel anything."

"Ram…"

But she was interrupted by the morning bell and he got up and started to walk away

"I should get to class".

Latter that evening Quill sat at the table of her and Charlie's shared home examining the alien blade with an oversized magnifying glass.

"So this was what killed the creatures you showed me?"

Quill asked peering through the glass to examine the blade's edge more closely.

"It is, what can tell me about it?"

Asked Charlie standing over her looking somewhat impatient.

"What do you want to know? It's big, it's red, it's pointy."

"Something helpful Quill. It easily dispatched those two creatures and it made Ram feel uneasy, there must be something usual about it"

"Well it's made of some kind of metal but I haven't been able to identity it yet and despite having been through at least one round of heavy swordplay it shows very little sign of wear and tear. Besides that, I got nothing."

She continued her investigation of the artifact working her way down the blade towards the hilt.

"Besides I don't understand why you're making such a fuss over this. Way I understand it the fight's over and all the involved parties are dead."

"which just goes to prove it may be dangerous, besides it's almost certainly of alien origin"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that".

Said Quill examining the crossbar at the top of the hilt. Charlie looked confused

"come look at this"

Quill shifted position slightly, inviting him to look through the magnifying glass. Through it he saw two letters inscribed at the base of the blade L and F.

"What's with mysterious forces and labeling their equipment?"

Quill muttered

"LF? Some kind of initials? What do you think it stands for?"

Quill looked disappointed

"No you imbecile. You're asking the wrong questions. Why would an alien write an inscription in English? Point is, I think whoever made sword was human."


	3. Temptation of the Blade

Varun Singh worried about his son. Of course it was perfectly ordinary for a father to be concerned for his child but his situation was anything but ordinary. Most parents worried about whether their children would pass their exams not whether they could survive attacks from otherworldly forces. Sometimes it seemed like he spent so much time worrying about Ram that he didn't have time to worry about other things like getting the cracked window fixed or remembering to file his taxes.

Despite his concern he was glad that Ram had come to him rather than keep it to himself, the only thing that could be worse than his son suffering would be him suffering alone. Ram seemed to have been doing ok up until a couple of days ago when he had suddenly fallen back on his avoidant behaviours. Varun decided to confront his son about it, going to his room and knocking on the door. He opened the door and lent inside slightly

"Ram can I talk to you for a minute?"

Ram was talking to one of his friends on video chat (was Tanya her name? Varun thought)

"I gotta go, talk tomorrow ok."

"ok"

Ram logged off his computer

"What's up?'

Varun lead Ram into the kitchen and the two sat down at the table.

"Is there something wrong Son?"

Ram looked a little confused

"What besides the missing leg, the constant alien attacks and all the dead people"

Varun sighed

"You Know what I mean Ram. Has something happened? Recently I mean."

Ram looked a little sheepish

"You can tell me what's going on Ram. You really can"

Ram's reluctance finally relented

"Ok so there's this sword"

"A sword?"

Varun asked clearly not quite following. Ram explained the series of events that lead to the crimson blade coming into his possession, from the alien crabs to the dead space age knight. A look of realisation flashed over Varun's face believing he had gotten to the heart of the matter.

"Son if he died it's not your fault. There wasn't anything you could've done"

"It's not that dad it's… it's the sword. It made me feel weird, uneasy I guess"

"I don't understand"

"I don't know if I understand either. It's like… it's like…"

Ram struggled to find the right words. After a moment to think, he looked a little sheepish rubbing his hands through hair and said

"Ok this is going to sound a bit weird. But you know those Lord of the Rings movies you like?"

Varun nodded but the expression on his face showed that he clearly wasn't keeping up.

"Well you know how the Ring corrupts you or whatever. Calls to you and all that. Well the sword was kinda like that. I felt like I could feel it reaching out trying to touch my mind talk to me. I could hear it, feel it in my head and it felt angry."

"Angry?"

Asked Varun still not sure he fully grasped what his son meant.

"More than that. It felt like my anger somehow. Like all the things I worked through Racheal, My leg and everything else, all that anger and pain I thought I'd left in the past. It was in the sword, calling out to me."  
"But I thought you said it was tempting you"

"It was. Sorta. Cause when I let go of all that stuff, it kinda felt like I lost a bit of myself. And it felt like the sword was promising it back."

Varun took a moment take it all in. He had accepted that Ram would have deal with dangerous things on a regular basis. He didn't like it but he had accepted it. But something messing with his son's head, that he didn't know how to deal with.

"So where is this thing now?"

"Charlie took it, so it's with him, Matteusz and… Quill"

Ram's face feel in a moment of recognition

"What is it?"

"It's just that if Quill has the sword, then she might not be as willing to turn it down."

Quill indeed had the sword in her possession she had been studying it all night at Charlie's behest. She wasn't surprised at him ordering her around but the nerve of abandoning her to keep working whilst he went up to his love nest with Matteusz seriously irked her. It wasn't that she really had anything against Matteusz (she didn't care about him enough to like him one way or another) it's just that he gave Charlie another piece of happiness to lord over her. Of all the people she had to share her new life with, why did it have to be him.

She hadn't uncovered much more about the sword's physical properties but what she had come to realise was that it possessed some level of psychic ones. She had spent enough time with the Arn in her head to recognise the feeling of something prodding around in her mind. She tried to focus on it, to better understand what it was trying to convey to her. It promised her power, anger, violence, being what she was before Charls and his people took it all away. More likely than not it was an attempt to manipulate her but the offer intriguing nonetheless.

It was then that she sensed a presence behind her, something stalking her. It wasn't Charles she could still hear him in his room. Instinct took over and ignoring the response such and action would elicit from the Arn she reached for the blade and swung it out behind herself towards the intruder.


	4. Automaton Attack

The blade swung through the air, carving itself through seemingly empty space until colliding with something unseen. It shamshed the object into several mechanical parts, releasing a bright corona of sparks scattered them across the room. The parts themselves only becoming visible when splintering off from the shattering form of the intruder, whatever cloaking mechanism that had concealed them had been unable to survive the impact.

Quill dropped the sword in surprise at her own actions and reached for her head expecting the burst of pain that the Arn was sure to deliver. But nothing came, her head remained free of pain, an act that should have resulted in her death caused no reaction at all. She looked around confused, unsure as to how she was still able to do so. She spotted the mechanical remains of her stalker, it's parts looked to be from some kind of humanoid robot. Could that be the reason, had the Arn given her a free pass because her assailant wasn't a living thing? No, that didn't make any sense, she hadn't known what it was when it struck it and the Arn would have acted almost almost instantaneously after sensing her thought to strike. But had that actually been her thought? Even running on sheer impulse, surely she would have considered the Arn's response, it wasn't like her to act without thinking, after all reckless warriors don't survive very long. She couldn't shake the feeling she was being manipulated.

Finding no satisfactory answers to what had happened she turned her attention towards the robots remains. The pieces were still sparking from were they had been sliced but even in their broken state she recognised the design. They had added some sort of clocking device in the meantime but the rest was unmistakable. This wasn't the first time the governors had sent a robot after her. She wasn't going to let them get away with it. Moreover she wanted answers and they were the most likely place she would find them. She picked the blade back up and shoved some of remains into a coat pocket, heading out the door on a quest for answers, or possibly vengeance, whichever came first.

Ram drove over to Charlie's house as quickly as he could. If Quill had succumb to the swords influence everyone could be in danger. That much sear power and anger in the hands of a trained warrior was a nasty combination. He got out of the car and rushed to the door but it opened just before he reached it and Quill stepped out

"Mr Singh, how unusual to see you outside school hours. I'm afraid I can't talk right now. Things to do people to punish."

She said quickly pushing past him. By the time he turned round to follow her she was already halfway down the street. He noticed the red sword clutched in her hand and sprinted after her.

"Quill stop. You don't know what you're doing, somehow that sword thing has got inside your head."

He said trying to keep up with her

"On the contrary Ram, I am not the kind of weak willed human, who would allow myself to be manipulated by a clearly dangerous alien weapon."

She said as he reached her

"Oh yeah is that why you thought you had to bring it with you then?"

He said sarcastically gesturing with his eyes at the weapon she hadn't realised she had been threatening him with, or even realised she was carrying. As her eyes followed his gaze down to the blade, a flash of concern flashed over them for a second but soon vanished as they glazed over with fury.

"I have it under control!"

She yelled pushing him to the ground with the flat of the blade. He got up and lunged for her desperate to disarm her. The two wrestled for the blade, it at point cutting a gash on Quill's shoulder in the struggle. At one point in the fight Quill managed to get the upper hand and attempted to return the favour redirecting the blade to hit Ram but it's sharpened edge only collided with the leg replaced with the Lothan prosthetic barely leaving a scratch on the alien metal.

Attracted by all the commotion Charlie and Matteusz ran from the house towards them, desperate to know what was going on. Seeing the fight the two worked to pull Quill off Ram in an attempt to de escalate the situation. When they finally pulled her off Charlie Berated Quill

"Why were you fighting him? Answer me!"

Matteusz noticed the sword dropped on the ground

"And how were you able to fight him? I thought you could not use weapons."

Before she could answer either of them Ram grabbed the sword and started swinging it wildly at all three of them. The anger behind his eyes had risen to the point where they appeared almost animalistic all of the humanity in them replaced with a primal rage. He lunged forward, the slice nearly hitting them, then again the trio again only just managing to dodge the strike. Then as if all the energy in his body had been drained from the effort he collapsed still holding the sword.

Matteusz lent down to help him

"Don't touch him or the sword. It could be dangerous."

Said Quill evidently having recovered her senses. She pointed at Matteusz

"You. stay here keep an eye on him"

Then she pointed at Charlie

"You're coming with me."

"Where are we going?"

He asked. Quill replied over her shoulder already beginning to walk away

"Same place I was heading to begin with. To find some answers."


End file.
